The US Army's proudest moment (1 Viewer)

[lancer]

Getting into the spirit of the Army specific action, I would say the Nov. 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam has a lot of merit. The 1st Batt. of the 7th Cavalry, CO Lt.Col. Hal Moore, were engaged by superior numbers in a battle for landing zones that was one of the most savage of the whole Vietnamese War. -- Al

 

[bromhead]

Getting into the spirit of the Army specific action, I would say the Nov. 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam has a lot of merit. The 1st Batt. of the 7th Cavalry, CO Lt.Col. Hal Moore, were engaged by superior numbers in a battle for landing zones that was one of the most savage of the whole Vietnamese War. -- Al

Well said,,as a replacement ordered to the 7th following the Ia Drang I agree,,A last minute intervention sent this same replacement to the 1st Inf div,as Joe Galloway told me in an E mail,the luck of the draw.

 

[Northgate Woods]

Chris mate,
The US Army has a very proud history in all wars both domestic and foreign. It is very hard to single one out.
Australia is proud as always to stand shoulder to shoulder with our American allies.
IMO the moment that stand out to me in your Army's History is the Charge up San Juan Hill by the Rough Riders lead by that great man Theodore Roosevelt. The Rough Riders along with other US Army troops, to me with that battle, put the US on the world stage as a world Military power.
Then, what better than the great man going on to become your President.
Cheers Howard

 

[DMNamiot]

Ok Chris

You win, I admit I was trying to generalize a little too much so while I am in the front leaning rest position I will knock out 40 and run through some of what I consider crowning momments that we have built upon to become the Army we are currently.

I start the timeline at The Battle of Saratoga Sept - Oct 1777. We defeat the British Invasion force from Canada and subsequently cause the British to shift focus to the South. The result is Washington is able to shift his forces and eventually bring about the defeat of the British at Yorktown 1781. These major events were caused by our development into a Professional Force Trained in the European Tactics that made our Army more than a Match for the British. Unfortunately for us they disbanded the standing Army and we had a little relearning to do when 1812 came along...

Mexican American War 1846-48 First taste of an Amphibious landing under fire which lead to the battles of Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec, precursor to the Civil War as it was a proving ground for almost all of the major figures of the ACW.

ACW the first of the truly modern wars for our Army and Nation. The focus here has to be the ones we won which were not nearly as many and the Southern Forces won but were telling in the massive casualties inflicted and developments and changes to tactics that were forced because of "modern firearms" Antietam, Gettysburg, The Wilderness and Spotslyvania Cedar Creek and Campaigns waged in the Shennandoha and Georgia to bring the war home and destroy the base of support. Unpopular and nasty it was the first real example of Total War. There were numerous lessons learned that would be remembered and used in spades when we eventaually had to get involved in WWII.

Spanish American War which inturn lead us to the Philippean Insurrection and the first taste of Guerrilla War that we finally won and are now looking at the lessons learned on these mainly nameless battles of atrition to take the fight to our current enemies. Things learned were Study the local Culture and ID of key leaders win over the tribe,Family Chief and win over the rest of them. Decentralized operations FOBs Get out and patrol the hostile areas to show the flag and negate the insurgancies influence amoung the locals. Provide and facilitate good governace and run by their own folks and the insurgency will loose out. Finally destroy the holdouts militarily. Sometimes the only solution is a 5.56mm. Also the biggy is we know they will take a long time to get rid of and have to show extreme patience as a fighting force, not every war is going to be like the Gulf.

WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, The Cold War, The Persian Gulf experiences and lessons have all been built upon to bring us to where we are now. So I still maintain that it really has been a cumulative series of victories and losses that is what makes us what we are. HOOAH!!!! Hell on Wheels

Dave

 

[maddadicus]

Wake Island...The Japanese were seriously bloodied for the first time by a makeshift defensive force of Marines and civilians with an abundance of U.S. guts..Michael

 

[The Military Workshop]

I would vote for D day landings.

Since American Revolution and War of 1812 were not so good for the British I will show my complete bias and exclude that period !

Regards
Brett

 

[Currahee Chris]

Australia is proud as always to stand shoulder to shoulder with our American allies.

Cheers mate- as we are as well. Tough blokes from down under- extrememly happy they are on our side. Not sure I ever told anyone this- my Uncle Jeff was a ranger instructor. He said the Crocodile Hunter, Mr. Steve Irwin himself, would come visit the Ranger school and give discussions on dealing with "indigenous life" My uncle always said if the guys in Australia were half as wild has Mr. Irwin, the world would be a much better place. RIP.

Mr. Dave- much much better effort- I see the front leaning rest position has cleared out some cobwebs and enhanced your clarity. Feel free to repeat said position several times per day if necc to achieve better clarity in the future

 

[jazzeum]

I don't believe I would classify the Spanish-Cuban-American War or the Philippines wars as some of our shining moments; they were more imperialistic impulses by our country and involved substitution of one of colonial power for another. The Philippine wars involved early uses of water boarding by the American forces, called the water cure. Deaths to the Filipinos are estimated to be as high as 1,000,000. This topic has recently been covered James Bradley (author of Flags of our Father) in The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War.

The Mexican American War was also, at the time, a not altogether popular war although it did provide the training ground for future leaders and Presidents as Dave noted. It was from this war that Lincoln, who served in the House of Representatives for one term, earned the derisive nickname "Spotty Lincoln," for challenging President Polk to name the "spot" on US soil where blood had been spilt. His stance was not a popular one with his constituents.

The Mexican American War also led to the introduction of the Wilmot Proviso in the House in 1848 by Rep. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, which would have provided that no land obtained from the war could be used for slavery. Although the proviso did not pass, its introduction finally brought the issue of slavery to the fore and was the issue that would not go away, the "fire bell in the night" (the phrase coined by Jefferson after the 1820 Missouri Compromise).

 

[bromhead]

Cheers mate- as we are as well. Tough blokes from down under- extrememly happy they are on our side. Not sure I ever told anyone this- my Uncle Jeff was a ranger instructor. He said the Crocodile Hunter, Mr. Steve Irwin himself, would come visit the Ranger school and give discussions on dealing with "indigenous life" My uncle always said if the guys in Australia were half as wild has Mr. Irwin, the world would be a much better place. RIP.

Mr. Dave- much much better effort- I see the front leaning rest position has cleared out some cobwebs and enhanced your clarity. Feel free to repeat said position several times per day if necc to achieve better clarity in the future

Very true,,I was hauled out of a den of vice in Vung Tau in mid,,,,,,,by Australian MPs,,who assumed I was one of theirs until I objected in my yank voice,fine fellows sent me back in to rehelp the cause against communism.

 

[Combat]

Gettysburg. In particular the fight on Little Round Top. Hard to top the stakes involved for this country.

 

[Currahee Chris]

Very true,,I was hauled out of a den of vice in Vung Tau in mid,,,,,,,by Australian MPs,,who assumed I was one of theirs until I objected in my yank voice,fine fellows sent me back in to rehelp the cause against communism.

Classic BRO Moment!!

God, that is funny!!

Jazzeum- While in general, I agree with your position, I think you may be mxing up policy with performance. The US Army did a great job in those campaigns (I'm assuming they did, admittedly, I am not very familiar with the minutiae.)

 

[jazzeum]

Jazzeum- While in general, I agree with your position, I think you may be mxing up policy with performance. The US Army did a great job in those campaigns (I'm assuming they did, admittedly, I am not very familiar with the minutiae.)

True, I may be doing that, but even from a performance point of view, at least with respect to the 1898 wars, Spain or the natives (after Spain was out of the picture) were hardly a match.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Brad,

Opinions are wide and varried on the Phillipeans but I took a look at it from more of a what did we learn as an Army and the lessons we(The US Army) are applying now. Perhaps this wasnt a popular war but them again what war is. There has been a lot of revisonist theory being punted about in the book/academic world lately and I merely think that it is ridiculas to try and apply today's morays to the events of over 100 years ago. My perspective sees it as they did what they did and I am not going to question the motives with my more than jaded 21st Century outlook.

As for the natives being less than a match for us well my friend they might disagree a little it took a long time to get the islands orderly, as a matter of fact it took from 1903 to 1913 to get the Moros subdued in the southern islands. They were and I am sure still are a tough bunch and would not have wanted to deal with them. Heck because of them we went back to a larger caliber handgun (.45 Colt) since it was determined that the .38 was just not up to the task.

Did we make mistakes along the way, certainly, but the big mistakes were generally political/policy types of mistakes and not due to the action of the US Army. I would also say that we administered the islands fairly and when they were given full sovereignty they were in good shape to take on the task of administration of a democratic form of government.

But this is merely an question on the opinion of what was the Army's finest hour and I believe that its a cumlative series of events and not just one event that has made up our finest hours and made our army what it is today.

Dave

 

[tdubel]

Gettysburg. In particular the fight on Little Round Top. Hard to top the stakes involved for this country.

Doug,

Got to give you this one, Chamberlain/Union Army did very well here. That said, I am particularly proud of Stonewall Jackson in general, when he was in the battle, the Army did quite well. Furthermore, AP Hills flank movement at Antietam was another brilliant maneuver that carried the day.

We will agree to disagree on the stakes involved for this country. The same could be said on the other side!

TD

 

[Currahee Chris]

As pathetic as this sounds- I got the idea for this thread while reading FM 7-8while at lunch (deals with basic infantry ops). Yeah- it was a SLLLLOOOOOWWW day (week really).

The discussion was on leadership and one of the topics mentioned discussed motivating troops through discussion of heritage and the like- sort of like invoking a "Remember the 300!" type thing. Just curious to see what everyone felt about the Army heritage and where certain moments and times stood out.

I tend to disagree with you to some extent Dave- not sure we have learned all the hard fought lessons from past generations- especially with COIN (Counter insurgency)ops- which a lot of the situations you described could be found- well, guerilla at least. But, I will readily admit that those types of conflicts are nonlinear so new lessons will always be present- unlike the static conflicts of Western Europe. Which, is why I have argued that Clausewitz isn't even relevant today.

 

[Louis Badolato]

For me the U.S. Army's proudest moment is during the Battle of the Bulge, when the G.I.'s pooled together their meager rations and the contents of their care packages from home, and gave the Belgian children a Christmas. When K&C commerated these events in several Christmas sets, Incouldn't have been more proud.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Chris,

You read 7-8 it had to be a painfully slow day, Get a copy of 71-123 better read. But thats OK I can also understand why we might disagree as well. Still the fact is we learned a lot of our counter guerrilla techniques in the Phillipines. Pershing was the man who finally ended the conflict with the Moro. The techniques he used are much the same as what we are currently using in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines against the same sort of insurgency call it COIN or whatever they are the same sort of operations. They didnt call it nonlinear because the term didnt exsist and if anything that makes what Pershing did all the more remarkable mainly because it totally ran counter to anything he learned as a Cadet or young Officer and it certainly didnt do him any good for the type of future ops he was put in charge of in Europe. But it was decentralized and it was FOBs set up in the heart of their turf and small units working with the local tribal chiefs building schools and hospitals etc, etc, etc. These lessons and many others are being used today only everyone seems to think we're reinventing the wheel. Certainly we have a lot of new lessons learned that are technologically driven because of remote IEDs etc but the basic principles were developed in the 10 year conflict in the early 1900's.

Also like Louis's Christmas in Belgium.

Dave

 

[lancer]

This subject is tough to apply to the ACW, obviously because both sides were American. So going a little out of the boundaries of the US Army, I would like to nominate Gen. R.E. Lee's masterpiece at Chancellorsville, along with Gen. Jackson's execution of the plan, as the outstanding moment of the CSA Army. It was the highlite of the war for the CSA. -- Al

 

[WWii addict]

Personally, I think it would be Operation Overlord(D-Day) or Battle of the Bulge

 

[bromhead]

As pathetic as this sounds- I got the idea for this thread while reading FM 7-8while at lunch (deals with basic infantry ops). Yeah- it was a SLLLLOOOOOWWW day (week really).

The discussion was on leadership and one of the topics mentioned discussed motivating troops through discussion of heritage and the like- sort of like invoking a "Remember the 300!" type thing. Just curious to see what everyone felt about the Army heritage and where certain moments and times stood out.

I tend to disagree with you to some extent Dave- not sure we have learned all the hard fought lessons from past generations- especially with COIN (Counter insurgency)ops- which a lot of the situations you described could be found- well, guerilla at least. But, I will readily admit that those types of conflicts are nonlinear so new lessons will always be present- unlike the static conflicts of Western Europe. Which, is why I have argued that Clausewitz isn't even relevant today.

Clause,,,,,seems to be meaningful to a lot of non server business types and video gamers ,,the old vicarious thing,,even tony soprano . iv been invited to take part in a 360 game or two,,"see what its like",,Ill probably decline to see that this time.